On Thursday 21st July Mark Clarke from Catholic Mission came to visit our school. Mark spent the morning working with the Student Leaders and then had the opportunity to work with all of the Grade 5/6 children. 

Over the morning Mark shared with the leaders the importance of being “student leaders rather than student followers” and to be thinkers in the world rather than just roll along with the crowd. Together we explored equality and equity and what this looks like. We created a picture of what Justice looks like and the need to restore balance.

Mark also worked with the children to develop a sense of what Mission is about and why it is so important today. According to the Oxford Dictionary mission is 1. an important assignment to a person or group of people, typically involving travel abroad. 2. The vocation or calling of a religious organisation, especially a Christian one, to go out into the world and spread its faith.

Mark then spent time talking about the work that Catholic Mission is doing in Ethiopia this year to “go out into the world and spread faith”. One of the projects that they are working on is to support the Goat Rearing Centre in Emdibir, Ethiopia. By supporting this project we are allowing the community to expand their Goat Rearing Centre through a breeding program. This will be an ongoing project that the community will continue to run. Along with the meat that the goats provide, the community will also have access to the nutritional benefits of the goat through milk and cheese and will be able to use their fleece. The community will also be able to sell the goats, providing an income. The Goat Rearing Centre is teaching the community to become independent and create a resource for the future while providing important nutritional elements for today.

The students had an informative day with Mark. Here are a couple of comments from our Student Leaders:

We had to take our shoe off to see what it was like to be uncomfortable -Indi

I liked learning about what the catholic mission is going to do this October to help Ethiopia. Learning all about the goats was very interesting. - Chloe

We look forward to sharing more about our mission as the term progresses.